Moving on with Laura and her mysterious(?) visitor... Thanks to Molly for being my beta! You're the best!

The new Mrs. Robertson – Twenty-One

"Time. to. talk. Don't you agree?" Raven asked as she crossed the room to take Laura's place behind her desk. Laura, slowly recovering from the shock, said nothing. She kept watching Raven as she claimed the chair where Laura usually sat, raised her legs to rest them on the edge of the desk and made herself comfortable.

"Why don't you sit down?" Raven asked, offering Laura a seat. "This will take some time."

Laura did as she was asked and sank onto the chair in front of her desk.

"What do you want? And how did you get in?"

"Will has a key, remember? And I'm here because I want to tell you a story," Raven explained vividly. "The story about a young girl who once tried to kill herself with this gun." she pointed at the gun on the desk. "She failed, fortunately, but she kept the weapon, just in case she could needed it again one day."

"I assume we're talking about you," Laura concluded, now a little more secure. Raven nodded.

"Correct. You know, the funny thing is, if I had let you do to me what you intended to when you hired that investigator or when John was so stupid as to tell you everything about my past, you would have dug your own grave. It's been fascinating to witness that you didn't have the foggiest idea of who I am. One could think you don't own a mirror... or should I say you own a mirror, but you use it in the wrong way... Mirror, mirror, on the wall who is the most beautiful of all..." she quoted amused.

"What do you want?" Laura asked sternly.

"You know what I want. The truth... some remorse... a little regret from your side. You almost killed me... twice. The day I tried to use that gun and today, when the truck ran over the private eye... by the way... be happy. I called the hospital tonight. The man will survive... okay, he lost a leg, but I can guess you'll make sure he won't have to miss out on anything for the rest of his life."

"I don't see how I tried to kill you," Laura objected.

"I see, you've reached the state of denial... let me tell you the whole story... just to refresh your memory... picture it, Los Angeles 1957... a woman, unmarried, found herself pregnant, but unlike many women of her generation she decides not the marry the father, though he really wanted her to be his wife, and decides to give the baby up for adoption. She goes back to England, gives birth to a healthy baby girl. A friend of the father, a priest, has connections to a cozy little village in Wales and gives the baby to a lovely married couple who couldn't have children. The mother leaves England again, breaks up with her boyfriend, and starts a whole new life in another city. But the story isn't over yet... no story is ever over... it always goes on."

"Enlighten me!"

"I'll love to... What the father and the priest don't know is, the mother has contacted the family and paid them a huge amount of money so that they keep quite about everything. She even managed to change their social security numbers and had them change their name. She paid them to move to another village... she did everything she could to cover her tracks with just one goal: no matter who started searching for her, would find her child... and of course the other way round. Her daughter was never supposed to find her. The plan worked almost to perfection, because 14 years later, the parents died in a car crash and no one was able to find out who the girl belonged to." Raven paused, watching Laura who listened without showing if she was touched or not. "Things went downhill from there, you know..." she removed her feet from the desk and took the gun.

"Thank God it went wrong."

Silence fell. For a minute they didn't speak, while each pair of eyes was focused on the gun in Raven's hands.

"How did you find out all this?"

"Because no one is perfect... you were clever, but not clever enough... you didn't pay my parents in cash... you see, we had hired someone to do some real research. The man found some very old records of the money you transferred to them."

"Who is we?"

"William and I... he wanted to help me... we met in South Africa several years ago. He was quite unhappy, because his father had just married a woman who was nothing like his mother... a woman who had done everything to get rid off of him. We felt sorry for one another."

"How convenient!" Laura said sneeringly. "Why do I have the feeling your friend Mr. Silver is behind all this?"

Raven shrugged with a meaningful smile playing around her lips.

"Well, of course, the best coincidence was finding out we have a common nemesis... that's a bond no one can destroy easily. Life has its own irony, hasn't it?"

Laura watched the gun in Raven's hand and asked: "And now? Do you want to shoot me?"

"All this effort to shoot a hole into your head?" Raven asked and shook her head. "Oh no... as I said, what I want is the truth – out of your mouth, some remorse, and some regret. I don't want an explanation, because getting to know you in person explains everything I needed to know. You're self-obsessed, self-serving and narcissistic." She smiled brightly. "Did you know that today's psychologists say narcissistic people are the biggest threat to modern society? I think they're right."

Laura rose from her chair, "So this is all about blackmail."

"Actually not... it's about teaching you a lesson... a run for your money... I want you to confess to Perry Mason what you did... he still thinks you're an angel hidden a wolf's fur... and I guess he still doesn't know for sure if I am his child or not. Maybe I'm not... who knows? He deserves some truth as well... and don't forget about Miss Street. She deserves to hear from you that you're nothing but a manipulative liar, though she has known this for a very long time and is just too decent to tell you that. As for Glen... There's no need to bother him. I think he knows you, but doesn't know how to say no to you... oh and..." Raven placed the gun back on the desk, circled the desk, and leaned back against the edge of it with her arms crossed over her chest.

"What?"

"The office... you need to step down... go on vacation with your husband... do some charity work for orphanages all over the world. John Silver will be thrilled to help you get the right contacts. Do what you have to do, just leave this town."

"So that you can take over?"

Raven shrugged, "Me or someone else... does that matter as long as you go?"

Archbishop Corro had skipped the tea and had settled for brandy. The alcohol helped him to relax after his unsettling dream.

"I think you should talk to Perry again," Della said mildly.

"I admire you, Della... you're out to fix something, for which you are hardly responsible."

"I know... but you're both stubborn and quite unreasonable."

"Maybe we are and yet for a good reason."

Della cleared her throat. She hated the whole situation, but she needed to set things straight with Stefan. For everyone's sake.

"Stefan... I'm serious. You've been friends for such a long time. Don't throw that away. Talk to him, make peace, I won't get in your way."

"I know you won't. That's so special about you, but Laura will. Seems that's what she always does. You see, Laura was here today," he said, his back still turned to her, as he looked out of his window into the rainy night.

"Laura was here?" Della asked surprised. "What could she want from you?"

"I asked her to come. I showed her Ellen Crane's file. She knows now who the young woman is."

"You did what? Why?" She became pale.

"Because this has to end..." he turned to face her, finishing his drink. "For all of us."

"You've done this behind his back – again. Why?" Della asked, tensed.

"It hurts you."

"Not more than it hurt me 12 years ago," she returned with rising anger. "I can't believe what a mess this has become!" She sighed exasperated. "You know, I wish you would have trusted me more... I had kept my distance, if I had known you felt more than just friendship for me. Anything to make it easier for you, but you told me something you knew I couldn't cope with. You broke Perry and me up on purpose!"

Guilt driven he avoided her eyes, "I admit I made a mistake. If I had talked to you and asked you to... stay away instead of seeking my advice, none of this would have happened, but I'm human, Della, and maybe I didn't want to lose what I feel for you... maybe it's something that can be as disturbing as beautiful... just let an old man dream, Della. I promise I'll do my best to keep my feelings in check."

"And what about Perry?" she asked. "You hurt him."

"I know he's angry with me... and jealous."

"I want you to make peace with him."

"Give me some time. Give both of us time to heal."

"Alright."

She sighed, unsatisfied, but she didn't want to push him any further. Slowly, she crossed the room, trying to establish a safe distance between them. "You see, whatever will be the result of this, there's no way I'll ever leave Perry again. No matter how hard Laura tries to use her maybe daughter for her advantage or how hard she tries to break us apart. I've invested over 30 years of my life into this relationship and I won't let go. And the same goes for you."

Stefan chuckled lightly, but the warmth in his voice gave away how much he admired her, "That's my girl." Then he became serious again, "I don't know what Laura will do with her knowledge, but I couldn't watch Laura trying to destroy her own flesh and blood."

"That's very noble, but as I see it, Raven doesn't have to be who we all think she is..."

"Of course not, but..."

Della shook her head, interrupting him, "I'm serious... we're all jumping to conclusions, but until a scientific proof of her identity reveals who she is, Raven Crane-Robertson is just an orphan who happens to look and be a lot like Laura herself."

~~tbc~~

Thanks for reading. As always comments are highly appreciated!